


Inertia

by DancerInTheRain



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, First chapter is Shit, Fluff, M/M, and jieun is born in 1999 JUST SAYING, but so are the rest of the chapters tbh, but when have i ever, i have no idea where im going with this?????, markhyuk - Freeform, sicheng is born in 1998, sicheng yukhei and renjun are brothers, sicheng...., yukhei is so cute my Son
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 15:34:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14500128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DancerInTheRain/pseuds/DancerInTheRain
Summary: Inertia /ɪˈnəːʃə/ (n): a tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged.you never would have found him if you didn't see him in a dream





	Inertia

Time isn’t real.

At least that’s what Mark’s parents said before they left for dinner and didn’t come back. 

No one truly has the concept of time. It’s like if you stare out of a window during an especially boring class. You wouldn’t know if ten minutes or seconds have passed. Unless you were counting, or the bell rang, or you had a peep at the dull grey clock stuck onto the dull grey wall. 

People liked to give him advice and talk to him, for some weird reason. Maybe it was just his face. 

‘If you’re worried about something, sleep it off! Your brain would be at rest, and you’d spend less time feeling anxious!’

‘If you’re stressed, do something that takes up little mental space, like painting! You’d have so much fun till you realise that it’s three in the morning! Time flies when you’re having fun, and people wouldn’t know how much time they’ve spent enjoying themselves till they’ve checked the time on their phone or looked out their window at the dark sky.’

His old cat, Pebbles, used to stare out how window at the kids playing in the swimming pool right outside. She’d look out for hours and hours on end, watching children play and shriek with glee. And at five-thirty-nine sharp, she’d yell at him to feed her and plead with those big puppy eyes. He often wondered how long she thought she’d been looking out for. 

She died, and he buried her next to a tree that was facing the pool. So that she could watch what was outside her old home in the afterlife for the rest of time. 

His middle-aged neighbour, Mrs Y, liked to talk to him whenever she caught a glimpse of his hideous neon orange school bag his aunt had gotten him for Christmas. She always stressed that he was to call her Mrs Y, and Mrs Y only. He didn’t even know her actual surname. Yoon? Yong? Young? He never really bothered to ask. He was too afraid of her to even hold a proper conversation. 

She had three sons, Sicheng, Yukhei, and Renjun, all with different surnames and looking further and further alike their mother. Once, he asked Yukhei whether he knew if they adopted or not while they were sitting and throwing stones by a pond. Yukhei just scrunched his nose and shook his head slowly, like he wasn’t too sure either. 

“I don’t think so. If we were, then my mother wouldn’t show all our relatives all our birth videos every single New Years and weep at how much we’ve grown. Actually, honestly, truthfully, the screenings have made me a stronger person. I don’t get as emotional when I see people cry anymore. And being stronger is kinda metal as fuck. Like last year they were showing sad videos during assembly to make us feel grateful for our families and lives and shit, everyone around me was crying. But me, no, I didn’t even shed a tear. They were all so surprised that I didn’t cry, and they were all like,‘wow, you’re so—Wait sorry, let me answer you properly. To say it plainly, yeah, I think I’ve adapted pretty well to my new class. Glad you’re in it too.”

“I just asked if you were adopted.” 

“Oh, um, I don’t think so. Was I going off-topic again?” 

Mark shrugged. 

“No, I’m pretty sure none of us are adopted, even though we all have different surnames.” Yukhei smiled and nodded. 

“Yeah, what’s the deal with that?Don’t you find it a little weird and unnerving?” 

“Honestly,” he pursed his lips and threw a stone into the pond. “I don’t really know. We all have the same dad, I think—” 

“You...think?” 

“I don’t really know. I’m kinda bad at these things. Like, my dad made me, of course you need both a dad as well as a mom to make a kid, and this same dad made Sicheng and Renjun as well. He’s in all the photos with my mom in the delivery room, all three times as well.” 

“Ah, okay. Continue.”

“That’s all I know. That we all have the same dad. I don’t know what’s her deal with the different surnames shit.” Yukhei scuffed his sneakers on the soft grass. “You should ask her yourself and tell me what she says. I’m too scared of her to ask.” 

“I’m too scared of her as well.”

“Huh, then I guess we’ll never know.”

“Or we could ask Sicheng to ask her.” 

“Hm, maybe.”

His aunt, Jinah, ran a restaurant that only opened on weekends called ‘How Is It Dough?’. He thought of the name when he was only about five, eating cheesy bread by the television, and still prides himself on the fact that he was the one who named his town’s favourite restaurant, even though he was young and confused and mixed up his sentences.

Sicheng, Yukhei and Renjun went over to have dessert with him every night, and there they would all gossip about that one snobby bitch at school, or the boy that kicked dirt in Renjun’s face for the fun of it (let’s just say the boys didn’t let the bully off without a bloody nose on his side, and a risk of suspension on theirs), and it hardly ever went any other way.

“And then I was like ‘step away from her, you stupid bitchass—” 

“Language, Renjun. Watch it.” Sicheng mumbled from behind his powdered doughnut. 

“Whatever, you swear way more than me. So—you won’t believe this— I think she had enough of his bullshit, so she picked him up and then threw him onto the ground! It was epic!” Renjun waved his arms around him in an excited frenzy, spluttering and spraying chewed up pancake bits all over the table and onto the other three boys. 

“Jieun has actually taken enough shit from him,” Yukhei sniffed. “He’s been ‘accidentally’ touching her arms and thighs all year in Math. I’m surprised she hasn’t called the police on him for sexually harassing her. Glad she gave him a taste of his own medicine, he totally deserves it.” 

“I can’t believe she sat next to him for almost a whole year without telling anyone about him. If I were her, I’d be out of there and at the police station filing a report before he can even open his disgusting little mouth.” Mark sipped on his smoothie and it made a loud slurping noise that made Renjun giggle. 

“I don’t know why she’s the one getting suspended. If she’s gonna be cut from school, he should go to jail,” the youngest of the four pouted. “She doesn’t deserve such punishment. I need her in Biology! Who else is going to explain what the hell is in an animal cell?” 

“Didn’t you learn what that was like, a year ago?” Yukhei swiped Mark’s drink and gulped half of it down, much to his dismay. 

“Yeah, and I still don’t know what’s inside. Says something about our education system, doesn’t it?” 

“Just shows that you just suck at learning Bio.” Sicheng squinted at him and sighed. 

Mark pushed his chair back and stood up, clearing the utensils and plates on the table. “I’ll just teach you. Gotta pay me, though.” 

“Literally shut up, why do I have to pay you? You crash at my place when you’re drunk so your aunt doesn’t smell the alcohol on you all the time, isn’t that payment enough?” Renjun scrunched his nose and pretended to slowly wave away the stench. 

“Hey boys, quick question, did I just hear something that should concern me? Or are my elderly ears doing me wrong,” Jinah poked her head out of the kitchen and squinted at the boys who squirmed uncomfortably under her gaze. “Better own up now, Mark, or I won’t go so easy on you next time.” 

“I was the one who ruined your lipstick two years ago, it wasn’t Pebbles.” Mark shot her his biggest smile, and she sniffed indignantly. “I used it for an art project. Sorry Jinah. T’was my fault.” He held his breath and stuck out his bottom lip, looking for that sliver of trust in her eyes. And with a skeptical gaze and a sniff, she slowly slunk back into the kitchen to finish up the dishes. 

“I don’t think she’s convinced.” 

“It’s cool, I haven’t gotten drunk in quite a while. Not like she can punish me for what I did in the past.” Mark closed one eye and looked down into his empty glass that was just half filled with smoothie moments ago, and then at Yukhei’s guilty head turn. “Anyway, I’ll teach you Bio, my son. Come over tomorrow at eleven, or whenever you feel like it, I’m free the whole day. I’ve got a whole stack of notes that I’m dying to give away.” 

“One, don’t call me your son, it’s weird. Two, cool, I’m forever free anyway.” Renjun leaned over the table to get a hi-five. 

“Hey dumbass, we have dance tomorrow. Does scary dance coach Jay ring a bell? Or bad footwork coming from you make you remember anything? Performance on Friday, sound familiar? Jay’s gonna have our necks if we don’t go.” Yukhei grabbed Renjun’s collar and yanked him backwards. “And if you don’t improve by Thursday, he said he might cut you out.” 

“The way you speak perplexes me. It’s really weird, Yukhei.” 

“Shut up, Sicheng.” 

“Wait a minute. Is it weird that we’re eating breakfast food at night?” Mark, who totally zoned out while they were bickering, cocked his head to one side. 

“I literally don’t care about dance. Cut me out for all I care, I just need to pass Biology.” Renjun twisted his face, ignoring him, and earned himself a hard smack on the shoulder by Yukhei. The younger then slapped him back, and it just turned into a battle of who could hit the hardest with the loudest sound, and somehow Sicheng and the remaining food got involved. 

“You’re all like little kids. Ah, I wish I was a kid again.” Mark grumbled when he got a handful of whipped cream to the side of his face. 

“Mark, we all know you have a mental age that’s younger than Renjun’s.” Sicheng used a finger to scoop off some of the food that clung onto his sideburns. “Even you can’t deny it.” 

“I—I don’t—shut up.” He cracked a small smile and dumped maple syrup into Yukhei’s hoodie and onto his head, much to his brothers’ dismay. 

“Hey! No one fucking dumps shit onto my brother and gets away with it!” 

The remnants of Mark’s drink ended up in his hair, with a smirking Renjun holding the cup. 

“Stop swearing, you bitch!” 

Renjun had a lapful of warm chocolate as a gift from his oldest brother. 

“There’s a jar of pickles here, and I’m not gonna waste this on anyone else! I’m doing this for you, Renjun!” 

Sicheng groaned at the smell of his soaked sweater, and sort of growled at Yukhei, who looked a little intimidated. 

“Why did you waste the pickles? I love pickles! How dare you!” Yukhei had cake thrown at his face, and Mark laughed loudly. 

“You boys are weird as hell.” 

And before they knew it, all four of them were blinded by a cloud of bread flour that was thrown at them from somewhere behind.

So you could say that Mark really did have all he wanted. A loving one person family, friends so close that he could call them his brothers, and a generally enjoyable life. But, he still felt like whoever was up there was just giving it too easily. There was something that he was missing, and needed to find. And it appeared in his mind one night while he was tossing and turning and couldn’t sleep. 

“Renjun?”

“Why the hell are you calling at three in the morning?” 

“Do you know anyone named Donghyuk?”

**Author's Note:**

> im sorry this is so short jasgfhfhshsf


End file.
